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DANCE

NEW YORK CITY BALLET

These are the final two weeks of the company’s winter season, and the principal dancer Miranda Weese’s last weeks with the company. Andrei Ratmansky’s thrilling “Russian Seasons,” with its folk-inflected score by the contemporary Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov, elegantly blends country motifs—line dances, strapping youths at play, a wedding—with an undercurrent of anguish, and playful “postmodern” touches. It will be performed four times this week and next. On Wednesday, the company unveils yet another program, “For the Fun of It,” which opens with Jerome Robbins’s “Circus Polka”—made for students from the School of American Ballet—and closes with Balanchine’s ravishing “Firebird”; Valery Gergiev will conduct the Feb. 23 performance. And the final bill of the season, “A Banquet of Dance,” features two contrasting Robbins ballets, both with music by Debussy: “Afternoon of a Faun”—a dreamlike encounter in a rehearsal studio—and the classically inspired “Antique Epigraphs.” ♦ Feb. 13 at 7:30, Feb. 17 and Feb. 22 at 8, and Feb. 18 at 3: “Klavier,” “Russian Seasons,” and “The Four Temperaments.” ♦ Feb. 14 at 7:30, Feb. 17 at 2, Feb. 23 at 8, and Feb. 25 at 3: “Circus Polka,” “Walpurgisnacht Ballet,” “Jeu de Cartes,” and “Firebird.” ♦ Feb. 15 at 8 and Feb. 21 at 7:30: “Carousel (A Dance),” “Intermezzo No. 1,” “Slice to Sharp,” and “Friandises.” ♦ Feb. 16 at 8, Feb. 20 at 7:30, and Feb. 24 at 2 and 8: “Raymonda Variations,” “Afternoon of a Faun,” “Antique Epigraphs,” and “Evenfall.” (New York State Theatre, Lincoln Center. 212-870-5570.)

NEW YORK FLAMENCO FESTIVAL 2007

Usually balanced between tradition and innovation, the festival this year leans more toward the new. Thursday’s gala introduces four strong up-and-comers, including the intriguing Olga Pericet, while Saturday and Sunday are given over to Sara Baras, whose dance “Sabores” skates on a sleek, sophisticated, and technically impressive surface. More promising is Friday’s feature, “Una Mirada del Flamenco,” by Rafaela Carrasco. Innovative in the best sense, she has the most important asset: a true ear for flamenco’s rhythms and deep song. (City Center, 131 W. 55th St. 212-545-7536. Feb. 15 at 7:30, Feb. 16-17 at 8, and Feb. 18 at 7. Through Feb. 24. For a full schedule of performances, see www.flamencofestival.org.)

DANCEBRAZIL

This vibrant ensemble celebrates its thirtieth season with a week at the Joyce and two premières. In “Ritual,” the ensemble’s director, Jelon Vieira, draws on the fluid movements of capoeira, candomble, and samba—and the skill of his fabulous dancers—to explore the diverse rituals of Bahian culture. Ramiro Musotto, an Argentinean master of the berimbau, contributed the acoustic/electronic score, which will be played live. And Ronald K. Brown has created a solo for the New York-based, Brazilian-born dancer and choreographer Carlos dos Santos, Jr. (175 Eighth Ave., at 19th St. 212-242-0800. Feb. 13-14 at 7:30, Feb. 15-16 at 8, Feb. 17 at 2 and 8, and Feb. 18 at 2.)

LEESAAR THE COMPANY

The dancer Saar Harari and the actress Lee Sher left Israel together in 2004, but the work that they have since created in New York is set in a decidedly Israeli landscape. In their new “Part II,” which weaves together material from the earlier works “Herd of Bulls” and “Moopim,” an oud player intermittently makes music while dancers explore close-to-the-bone themes: the interplay between their military and civilian selves, or the way that lighthearted daily experiences rub up against sudden, violent eruptions. Part of the 92nd Street Y’s Harkness Dance Festival. (Ailey Citigroup Theatre, 405 W. 55th St. 212-415-5500. Feb. 14-15 and Feb. 17 at 8 and Feb. 18 at 2 and 7.)

OYU ORO

Some of the finest Afro-Cuban dancers and musicians north of Havana join the ensemble Oyu Oro for “Palenque,” the story of a runaway-slave settlement in nineteenth-century Cuba. Choreographed by La Mora (Danys Perez), the tale is packed with action: the murder of a slave driver, a lightning-lit escape, and a fierce dance-battle for dominance between factions from different parts of Africa. Unity prevails, and the second act is a divertissement of hybrid Cuban styles. (La Mama Annex, 74A E. 4th St. 212-475-7710. Feb. 15-17 and Feb. 22-24 at 7:30 and Feb. 18 and Feb. 25 at 2:30 and 7:30.)

EUN JUNG GONZALEZ AND CATEY OTT

The two choreographers and dancers are old friends who met in the nineties in the New York dance scene. Recently, Ott moved back to her home town, Milwaukee. At Danspace this week, they reunite to present their own work and a collaborative duet, “Corridors,” in which they explore their relationship as dancers and friends through the diverging and interweaving paths of their experiences. (St. Mark’s In-the-Bowery, Second Ave. at 10th St. 212-674-8194. Feb. 16-18 at 8:30.)

CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON / BRIGHT SHENG SEMINAR

The New York City Ballet’s choreographer-inresidence (Wheeldon) and its composer-in-residence (Sheng) are currently collaborating on a ballet for the spring season based on Oscar Wilde’s story “The Nightingale and the Rose”; here they will discuss the process of building a new ballet together from scratch. (New York State Theatre, Lincoln Center. 212-870-5570. Feb. 19 at 6.)

COMPANY VINCENT MANTSOE

Mantsoe, a child of globalization, draws out the South African ritual dance of his mother—a sangoma, or witch doctor—with sundry Eastern and Western techniques. He’s a spellbinding performer, but his ensemble piece “Men-Jaro” is, except for a solo of possession (for himself), more pleasant than transporting—a genial series of interactions set to an excellent score by Anthony Caplan, played live on traditional South African instruments. (Kumble Theatre, 1 University Plaza, between DeKalb Ave. and Willoughby St., Brooklyn. 718-488-1624. Feb. 20-21 at 8.)

VICKY SHICK

“Plum House (A Cartoon)” is the latest collaboration between the visual artist Barbara Kilpatrick and Vicky Shick, a downtown-dance habitué and former Trisha Brown dancer. This time, the scene is a tiny two-walled, wood-and-wire-mesh structure, which functions as a kind of hive for the five busy members of a strange colony of females. The new work shares the bill with a revival of the duet “Repair,” a look at the way in which an extravagant, volatile personality (portrayed by Jodi Melnick) affects a bystander. (Dance Theatre Workshop, 219 W. 19th St. 212-924-0077. Feb. 20-24 at 7:30.)

COMPAÑÍA METROS

The Catalan choreographer Ramón Oller’s Barcelona-based company performs his one-act, modern-dance-and-flamenco version of “Carmen,” set to a collage fashioned from Bizet’s score, flamenco riffs, and music by the Spanish contemporary composer Martirio. Oller’s Carmen is a leggy factory worker who seduces her man on a rooftop; her indiscriminate thrusts and undulations suggest a teen-ager’s overripe sexuality. Though jagged pacing sometimes squanders the impact of the dancing, the intense performers generate a compelling atmosphere. (Joyce Theatre, 175 Eighth Ave., at 19th St. 212-242-0800. Feb. 21 at 7:30, Feb. 22-23 at 8, Feb. 24 at 2 and 8, and Feb. 25 at 2 and 7:30. Through March 4.)

MEGAN V. SPRENGER / MVWORKS

P.S. 122’s new commissioning program, Room, was created to encourage collaboration with experts in disciplines outside the performing arts. “No Where,” Sprenger’s first evening-length work, draws on the expertise of the mathematician Sara Grundel, in a work whose structure is based on the geometric arrangement known as Pascal’s Triangle and which is inspired by the highly theatrical photographs of Gregory Crewdson. (150 First Ave., at 9th St. 212-352-3101. Feb. 22-23 at 8, Feb. 24 at 5 and 8, and Feb. 25 at 5.)

GUTA HEDEWIG DANCE

In “Dog Days,” at Danspace, the German-born Hedewig uses slapstick, folk dance, and video projections to satirize the verbal missteps and mythomania of the Bush Administration. (St. Mark’s In-the-Bowery, Second Ave. at 10th St. 212-674-8194. Feb. 22-25 at 8:30.)

“WORKS & PROCESS”

The downtown choreographer Seán Curran brings his dancers uptown to the Guggenheim to discuss his work and perform excerpts from “The Nothing That Is Not There and the Nothing That Is,” set to Leos Janácek’s melancholy piano cycle “On an Overgrown Path” (played live); a solo from last year, “St. Petersburg Waltz” (performed by Curran); and a sneak peek at a work in progress, “Force of Circumstance.” (Fifth Ave. at 89th St. 212-523-3587. Feb. 25-26 at 7:30.)

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